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John Vawter
Social climber
San Diego
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Sep 27, 2006 - 04:14pm PT
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I can't believe nobody put this one on their list:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson.
Also, Fup by Jim Dodge.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Sep 27, 2006 - 05:04pm PT
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Hey Jaybro,
Cryptonomicon might be my favorite book ever. It's the only time I started rereading a book the same day I finished it! (it's like a 1000 pages for those who haven't seen it.) Love it.
Agree about his latest though... I read Quicksilver and thought it bogged down too much, and haven't read the next two. Diamond age and big U had their moments, but I wouldn't call them great. Snow Crash is an all time classic though. Long live the Deliverator!
Oh, and add The Lord of the Rings to the list. And Dune.
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BoKu
Trad climber
Douglas Flat, CA
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Sep 27, 2006 - 05:05pm PT
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Round the Bend by Nevil Shute
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Thomas
Trad climber
The Tilted World
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Sep 27, 2006 - 05:44pm PT
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Steppenwolf and Siddartha by Hermann Hesse should be required reading for any human being.
Separate Reality, Journey to Ixtlan, and Tales of Power by Carlos Castaneda.
Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine St. Exupery.
And, of course, LOTR...
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Sep 27, 2006 - 05:49pm PT
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Is Zap Comix a book?
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Sep 27, 2006 - 06:23pm PT
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Nobody's mentioned 'The Iliad', or one of my fav's, 'The Odyssey' by Homer.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Sep 27, 2006 - 06:28pm PT
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Interesting, Caught. Do you think the The Baroque Cycle audience is the same as Snow Crash's? Seems like they would appeal to different folks.
Gary, the one that comes back to me from Zap comix, is Philbert Desanex' 100,000th dream. I've read that over and over again!
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d-know
Trad climber
electric lady land
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Sep 27, 2006 - 06:47pm PT
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naked lunch---william s. burroughs. try diggin' this one in only one read.
invisible man---ralph ellison. cause it's a masterpiece.
iron heel---jack london. the best he ever wrote. hunger and passion in that one.
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cintune
climber
Penn's Woods
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Sep 27, 2006 - 06:49pm PT
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Peter Mathiessen's "The Snow Leopard."
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Sep 27, 2006 - 06:57pm PT
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jaybro,
all of stephenson's books focus (IMO) on tech breakthroughs of one nature or another. crypto was my fave, because of the two timelines that fed into each other, with related technologies helping the related protagonists in both timelines. Very slick.
I think he tried to do the same thing in the baroque cycle on a grander scale, and with technologies that we take for granted but were cutting edge around the time of Newton. But by expanding into three books instead of one, he stretched it out too far, and it got a little dull and slow. Plus, Elizabethan society and characters are less dynamic... and I think that's where he lost me. I could relate to Randy, and other Crypto characters, and WWII history is much more interesting to me.
but a lot of that is just my opinion (and plenty of speculation), since I grew bored and didn't finish the baroque books. Not sure where he ended up going with the alchemy and the physics...
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kuan
Sport climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 27, 2006 - 07:36pm PT
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hardman,
i love that book - Confederacy of Dunces! It is funny, but did you find it kind of sad too? Obese megalomaniac living at home with mom...
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neuroshock
climber
Chicago, IL
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Sep 27, 2006 - 07:38pm PT
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i found Cryptonomicon slow to start, but got much better one i was many pages in.
The Bourne Identity (the original...not the movie crap)
Neuromancer
Snow Crash
Rainbow Six
Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow
None Braver (book about USAF Pararescue ops in Afghanistan. special ops and your job is to save lives? awesome!)
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Sep 27, 2006 - 07:40pm PT
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ender's game, good one.
Don't know about Bourne Identity though. I read it and liked it, but after reading a few Ludlum novels, you've read them all. (I've probably read about 10.) Oh, and no one ever sleeps in those books, makes me tired just reading them!
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Sep 27, 2006 - 07:58pm PT
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Caught, yeah that's what I thought was going on, too. I liked what he was trying to do (or I thought he was trying to do) in Crypto, but it didn't quite come together, for me. I think one of the things that makes me dissappointed with the Baroques, is that I thought he was getting the bugs out in Crypto, and the trilogy would make it all come to together; sigh. It seems to have had that effect for others (both my bros and my 25 yo nephew screamed through them and are happy that they did. WTF? maybe it's us?;-)
An example of a book I thought was successful in that vein, cutting edge of the past as sci-fi (for lack of a better way to put it),was
'The difference Engine,' William Gibson/Bruce Sterling. As a degreed paleontologist, anything that uses 'Punctuated Equilibrium™ as a theme and a metaphor, gets my attention!
Unfortunatley I think I was the only one whose attention was grabbed, as it was not wildly successful, I think. Wonder if SJ Gould read it?
Difference engine and Gibson's 'Pattern Recognition,' are the only books I can think of that I started rereading immediatley upon completion, like you mentioned.
Word up though, talk around the holiday dinner table at Chez Anderson is that Smart Wheels™ make a return in the last baroque!
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scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
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Sep 27, 2006 - 08:05pm PT
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Some interesting collections of titles here.
I can't help but think that some of these lists are "books I
think are great" rather than "...over and over again"
For me, in terms of number of repeat readings, I'll list
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Chimera by John Barth
Tidewater Tales by John Barth
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Catch 22? Incredible, awesome, but I've only read it like 3
times.
Add to this A Confederacy of Dunces
and both of William Gibson's trilogies
Hey Kuan! re: Flowers for Algernon, do you mean the novel or
the original story? I've only read the story. A few repeats. I
find it exceedingly moving. I heard (way back when) that the
film "Charlie" was actually a good one but never saw it.
EDIT: Of course, The Odyssey. I still haven't figured out which
is my favorite translation. thx, bluering.
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blackbird
Trad climber
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Sep 27, 2006 - 08:11pm PT
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The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis
The Leatherstocking Tales J. F. Cooper
Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt
Bridge to Terebithia Katherine Patterson
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kuan
Sport climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 27, 2006 - 08:32pm PT
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scuffy b,
I mean the book - so i guess that would be the novel. Flowers for Algernone is such a good book!
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Sep 27, 2006 - 08:35pm PT
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Hey jaybro,
Most people read Zap for Crumb, but I found S. Clay Wilson to be one very disturbed individual. The Checkered Demon is even on topic here.
"In other words, once you have read Wilson's work, nothing will shock you anymore."
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scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
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Sep 27, 2006 - 08:37pm PT
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The Leatherstocking Tales, good entertainment.
Don't you think the opening to The Pathfinder is a bit strange?
We've got, as I recall, a ship's Captain and his (daughter, niece
or some such) actually walking up to Natty Bumpo (Deerslayer,
Hawkeye, Pathfinder, Leatherstocking) and that Delaware (What's
his name?)AT NIGHT IN THE FOREST and Surprising them! And these
are like the most badass woodsmen of their time?
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scuffy b
climber
The town that Nature forgot to hate
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Sep 27, 2006 - 08:38pm PT
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Thanks, Kuan. I'll grab next time I see it. I recommend the
story most highly.
sm
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